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American Morning
More Arrests In O.J. Case; Dole Lettuce Recall; Federal Reserve Meets; Missing Maddie; Clinton Health Plan
Aired September 18, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Fresh squeeze. Another arrest in O.J. Simpson's legal drama. One of his fellow suspects speaks out about that night in the hotel room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O.J. SIMPSON: You think you can steal my (BLEEP)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Backs to the wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe he was set up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Supermarket sweep. E. Coli turns up in bagged lettuce. There is a brand-new recall this morning.
And raw politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MEYER, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENT: I'll ask him my question, thank you very much. I'll ask my question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: A student's questions to Senator John Kerry cut short by a police taser. Both sides of the story on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Yes, didn't look pleasant, did it? We're actually going to hear from the girl who shot that videotape at that questioning a little bit later.
But, meanwhile, welcome. It is Tuesday, September 18th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Thanks for joining us. I'm John Roberts.
Breaking news just minutes ago in the case of the missing British girl Madeleine McCann. It's another strong show of support for her parents. Early this morning in Britain, the McCann's new spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said he resigned from his position as head of the media monitoring agency for the British government so he could keep working for them. The reason why? He feels so strongly that they are innocent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARENCE MITCHELL, MCCANN FAMILY SPOKESMAN: Suggest that they somehow harmed Madeleine, accidentally or otherwise, is ludicrous as it is nonsensical. Indeed it would be laughable if it wasn't so serious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Why does Mitchell feel that the McCanns are innocent? We will ask him. He's going to join us just minutes from now here on AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: Meantime, Las Vegas police expect to arrest two more people today in connection with O.J. Simpson's hotel room break-in case. Simpson being held without bail after a judge ruled that he is a flight risk. A third suspect arrested Monday afternoon accused of stealing some $75,000 worth of sports memorabilia that Simpson claims he was trying to get back. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence is live in Las Vegas with the new details for us this morning.
Hi, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
Even as all these pieces of the investigation start to fall into place, O.J. Simpson's attorney plans to request a bond motion. He plans to ask the court to release Simpson on his own recognizance with no bail posted whatsoever. In fact, he says, if Simpson was anybody else, he'd already be out by now.
The lawyer is repeating what Simpson said, that he was simply going into the hotel room to take back sports memorabilia that already belonged to him. But the police say that doesn't matter. They believe guns were involved. And Simpson is now charged with crimes that could put him behind bars for 30 years. The judge who initially denied bail to Simpson is now explaining some of his reasons for doing so.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE DOUGLAS E. SMITH, LAS VEGAS CHIEF JUDGE: I determined that the fact that a weapon was used in a crime, or alleged, that it was a serious enough crime that I would hold him without bail if he met the other criteria. That is, is he a flight risk? And I had no information that he had any contacts with Las Vegas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: Again, remember, there were five people who allegedly went into that hotel room that retrieved this merchandise, or take this merchandise, including O.J. Simpson. Again, the third person was arrested Monday at his lawyer's office and he brought some of that stolen merchandise back with him.
Ron Goldman's family, the family that was awarded a judgment in O.J. Simpson's civil trial 10 years ago, is now making a push to have some of that stolen merchandise turned over to them under the claim that, again, any proceeds that Simpson would get truly belongs to them.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Chris Lawrence live for us in Las Vegas with the newest details this morning. Thank you.
There is also a health alert today about more leafy green vegetables that are now coming off the shelves. Dole now says it's recalling thousands of bags of salad because they could be contaminated with E. Coli. Alina Cho is at our national update desk with more on this recall,
Hi, Alina. Good morning.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran, good morning to you.
Now to be clear, no one has actually gotten sick from the contaminated bagged lettuce so far, but Dole says one sample at a grocery store in Canada tested positive for E. Coli. So the company naturally doesn't want to take any chances. Dole is recalling thousands of bags of mixed lettuce. Of course, these are quite popular.
So if you do buy bagged salad, you want to pay attention to this very closely. The recall effects "Dole's Hearts Delight" salad mix sold in at least nine states, including New York, and parts of Canada. The bagged salad has a September 19th "best if used by" date. The production codes on the bagged salad are as follows, A24924A or A24924B.
Dole's president issued a statement saying, "our overriding concern is for consumer safety." He went on to say that Dole is working very closely with the FDA, state health departments and Canadian authorities.
Now this is not the first time Dole has been affected by a recall. You may remember last year there was that massive recall of Dole brand bagged baby spinach. And these recalls, you should know, certainly have a lingering effect.
A recent study by Rutgers University actually showed that nearly a year after that recall, more than half the people surveyed who ate spinach before last year's recall still have not gone back to eating it. And there's a lot at stake here, Kiran. Dole is the world's largest producer of fresh fruits and vegetables and even fresh cut flowers.
CHETRY: Yes. And the other question is, you know, what causes the E. Coli contamination? Is it something that has to do with where, you know, the lettuce is grown and what can they do about it. So those are questions I'm sure a lot of consumers want it see answered as well.
Alina Cho, thanks a lot.
CHO: Sure.
CHETRY: Also, for a complete list of these affected products and dates if you missed it just now when Alina was reading it off to you, you can check out our website, cnn.com/americanmorning.
ROBERTS: Five minutes after the hour now. There is another Hall of Fame athlete facing a heap of legal trouble in New York. Isiah Thomas, who is now the Knicks head coach and general manager, is being accused of sexual harassment by a former Madison Square Garden executive. In a videotape deposition played for the court, Thomas denied ever called the black woman the "b" word and another word that Don Imus used that got him fired. But Thomas also admitted that there is a double standard and that he may be OK with that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISIAH THOMAS, NEW YORK KNICKS HEAD COACH: A white male calling a black female a (BLEEP) is highly offensive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you find it also offensive for a black male to call a black woman a (BLEEP)?
THOMAS: Not as much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, later outside the court, Thomas tried to take that back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS: Please don't miss characterize the video that was shown in court today. I don't think it's right for any man to ever call a woman a (BLEEP). I didn't do it and I wouldn't do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The accuser is seeking $10 million in damages.
Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers says he is going straight to the top in an effort to make a point about frivolous lawsuits. He filed the lawsuit against God, asking the court to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting God from plagues and terrorist threats. The senator says he did it to show that a lawsuit may be filed over anything and against anyone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERNIE CHAMBERS, NEBRASKA STATE SENATOR: It's not a lawsuit against religion, it's a lawsuit against a defendant who has perpetrated much harm and damage on the human race.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM WHITE, NEBRASKA STATE SENATOR: I wanted to laugh, but, you know, it's going to be kind of tough to get God to obey a court since he is the almighty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: He says that he could file it in Nebraska because "God is everywhere." Chambers says his lawsuit was triggered by a case filed in federal court over rulings by a state judge who barred the words "rape" and "victim" from a sexual assault trial.
And the University of Florida's police department is investigating whether its officers were justified in tasering a student yesterday during a campus forum with Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. Twenty-one-year-old Andrew Meyer asked Kerry several questions, one of them being why didn't he contest his 2004 election loss to President Bush. The university says his microphone was cut off because he used up his allotted time making statements. Officer had to pull him away after he refused to leave and that's when it got ugly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MEYER, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENT: Thank you for cutting my mike. Thank you. Are you going to arrest me? Excuse me. Excuse me. What are you arresting me for? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Is anybody (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Police tried to escort him out, but Meyers continued to resist, saying that he wanted to stay and hear the answer to his question and, well, things went downhill from there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEYER: I didn't do anything! Don't tas me, bro. Don't tas me. I didn't do anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Meyer was charged with resisting an officer and disturbing the peace. He is scheduled to appear in court this morning. The entire incident, as we said, caught on tape from several angles being investigated.
Kiran.
CHETRY: That's right. And we're going to speak to the girl who shot that tape a little bit later as well.
Meanwhile, all eyes on the Fed this morning, meeting to consider a cut in the prime lending rate. This is something that many have been waiting for, for a long while now. Stocks slide, though, as nervous investors await today's decision as well.
We have more on that now with Stephanie Elam in for Ali Velshi today.
Good to see you this morning, Stephanie.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you too, Kiran.
And, again, it's a big day around these parts. Everyone's waiting to see what's going to happen with the Fed. They will meet at 2:15 Eastern Time today. Or at least that's when the decision will come out.
Many are expecting the Fed to go ahead and cut the prime rate. That is the Fed Funds rate. That's the one that affects consumers here. This is the one that most people care about. Right now it's at 5.25 percent. It's been there since June of 2006.
So this would be the first cut in over a year. Some people hoping for half of a basis point cut. But really a lot of people thinking it may just be a quarter of a percent. So, therefore -- a quarter of a basis point. So, therefore, we've seen the markets actually reacting to that yesterday. Really waiting to see what happens today.
The Dow was off 39 points. The Nasdaq on the downside by 20 points. Also hurt by some Microsoft news there yesterday. But, overall, everyone's waiting to see what happens at 2:15 today.
Again, Alan Greenspan coming out and saying, hey, at this point, really the Fed is concerned with inflation. And if they cut too much, inflation could be a bigger worry there. So that's what we'll be keeping our eyes on today.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Sounds good. We'll check in with you a little later.
Stephanie, thanks.
John.
ROBERTS: Health news topping your "Quick Hits" now. Doctors say a new vaccine has dramatically lowered pneumonia and other serious illnesses in children, but it potentially comes with a price. New super bugs that cause ear infections. Doctors say the Prevnar vaccine is resistant to all drugs approved to treat childhood ear infections, but parents should continue to have children under two get the vaccine, doctors say, because it prevents serious illness.
A factor that was at the center of a summer botulism outbreak has reopened. The Castleberry's food plant in Augusta, Georgia, makes cans of hot dog chili sauce. The product had to be recalled after eight people got sick from eating it. The FDA gave the plant permission to open again last week, but not all of the production lines are up and running.
A conservative senator getting the backing of the ACLU. A bathroom incident makes for strange bedfellows. Just ask Larry Craig. That story is coming up.
And Hillary Clinton's health plan sets her up for criticism by most of the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates, but how does it sound to voters? We'll have that for you coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Four-year-old Madeleine McCann has been missing for almost five months now. Her parents are now considered suspects by Portugese police. But the family's new spokesman says he is sure that they had nothing to do with it. And to help them with their case, he is quitting his job with the British government to work with them full time. Clarence Mitchell joins us now live from Rothley, England.
Mr. Mitchell, you were the head of the media monitoring agency for the British government. Why did you quit your job?
CLARENCE MITCHELL, MCCANN FAMILY SPOKESMAN: John, good morning.
I quit simply because I had to. My position became untenable. As a civil servant, I am impartial. And because there is an active police investigation ongoing in Portugal, I could not be seen as a governmental spokesman, if you like, to represent the McCanns. They asked me to come and assist them. And it was clear from the moment I agreed to accept their offer that I would have to resign my government role so that I can speak for them as a private individual.
ROBERTS: Right.
MITCHELL: I did, of course, spend time with them in Portugal in my government capacity. That's how I got to know them.
ROBERTS: Right. And why did you accept their offer? Why are you convinced of their innocence?
MITCHELL: Because as part of my government role, back in May, shortly after Madeleine vanished, I was sent to work with them to help them handle the vast media interest. And I got to know them very well. I was with them for nearly a month. Some days I was with them for 14, 15 hours a day. And I know they did not, as has been alleged in some reports, somehow dispose of their daughter's body. I just know that they didn't do it. And if you knew them as a couple yourself, you would realize that they are completely innocent of this heinous crime and they want everybody's focus to get back on to the basic core fact, and that is that Madeleine is still missing and people should still be looking for her.
ROBERTS: But what about these reports out of Portimao that there was extensive DNA evidence in a car that they rented some 27 days after Maddie disappeared and reports that massive amounts of hair were in the trunk of that car? MITCHELL: Those reports, many of them unsourced and unattributable, I cannot discuss simply because of the legal situation surrounding Gerry and Kate at the moment and their status as suspects.
What I can say is that there are wholly, innocent explanations for anything that the police may have found in that vehicle or, indeed, in their former apartment. And if Gerry and Kate have to defend themselves at some stage formally, then they're confident that they will do so. They did not harm Madeleine. They just want her home.
ROBERTS: So what are those explanations?
MITCHELL: I can't go into those now because of those legal restrictions. The Portuguese authorities do not wish, under their secrecy laws, for the material to be discussed. And I might stress as well, those reports are just that. They are reports in newspapers. They are not formal allegations brought against the couple at this stage. And, therefore, I'm not going to discuss speculative reports anyway.
ROBERTS: Right.
MITCHELL: But there are good, legal reasons why I can't go into the details.
ROBERTS: Do you believe that the case that the Portuguese authorities have against them is weakening? There is this judge in Portugal who has refused to order Kate to come back to testify or to at least undergo more questioning.
MITCHELL: Kate and Gerry want the process to be as open and transparent as possible. They have nothing to hide. And if, and I stress if, any case is finally put to them, as a formal accusation, then they will defend themselves robustly. Until that happens, they have nothing to say about reports of how the investigation is or isn't going.
ROBERTS: All right. Clarence Mitchell joining us this morning from Rothley, England. He is the news spokesman for Gerry and Kate McCann.
Thanks very much for being with us, Mr. Mitchell. I'm sure that we'll be talking to you a lot more in the future. Appreciate it.
MITCHELL: Sure. Thank you. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, Hillary Clinton jumps back into tricky political water. She's announced her health care proposal and top Republican candidates choose to skip a chance to talk about one of their key issues -- values and the values voters that turn out. We turn now to CNN political analyst John Dickerson of slate.come to find out what is going on.
Good morning, John. Good to see you.
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.
CHETRY: So Hillary rolled out her health care plan yesterday and she received a tremendous amount of attention from the media. But a lot of it was also focused on her failures when she tried to do this back in 1993/'94. So in the end, will health care be a winner or a loser for Hillary?
DICKERSON: Gosh, I don't know. I mean, she has to -- she certainly can't run away from her past. And it was a problem for her that she hadn't put out the kind of plan that her two chief rivals have put out. She's got an extraordinary sort of staged roll out for this plan, which makes her look like the frontrunner she is. So we'll see how she handles it. But it wasn't a -- she couldn't get away from this and she had to come forward with a plan.
CHETRY: And you talk about her Democratic rivals, her GOP rivals as well. No one wasting any time coming out and criticizing. In fact, let's listen to a little taste of what Mitt Romney said yesterday about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you see in the reports this morning on the latest version of Hillary care, you'll see that version 2.0 is not likely to have any more success than 1.0. Hillary care continues to be bad medicine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So there's another one. Another comment from Mitt Romney about it. However, is she getting ahead of the failures of 1993 by coming out, talking about it. In fact, she's going to be on our show in about two hours.
DICKERSON: Well, there's a little intermural contest in the Republican field that beat up on Hillary Clinton. Rudy Giuliani has had a few days of it and Mitt Romney is not going to be outdone.
You know, for her, it's actually -- it's wonderful to have the Republican candidates competing to see who can be meaner to her and come up with those little sound bites. So, as far as her plan goes, this is probably something she's happy about.
CHETRY: Let's switch gears and talk about the GOP for a minute. You know last night there was this debate yet again. There's been a lot of debates, of course, on both sides. This one was from the value voters presidential debate. It was missing four important people, and that's Mitt Romney, Senator John McCain, Fred Thompson and, of course, Rudy Giuliani. All of them were absent from the stage. What type of message are they sending by not coming out by something that is endorsed by the so-called value voter?
DICKERSON: Well, the value voter, it's a little tricky this time around for Republican candidates. Three of those men you mentioned have textured histories on the value's question and John McCain and Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani all have issues. You know, they don't want to spend an evening talking -- Fred Thompson may have other issues. He's just gotten into the race. He wants to pick his battles and his debates carefully. So for the top candidates, it was probably a debate they wanted to miss because the issues set is just a little troublesome for them.
CHETRY: That's interesting then. So what happens next? I mean, so who -- does that really pave the way for a second tier candidate like Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to rise to the surface or they don't need the value voters as much as they may have before?
DICKERSON: Well, Huckabee certainly is trying to rise to the surface on these issues. I think what it really means is that those top candidates would rather talk about those issues on their terms. They don't want to spend an evening having tricky abortion questions thrown at them or gay marriage questions.
And so far, at least for Mitt Romney, who has had shifting positions on these issues over time, he's been able to frame it in Iowa and New Hampshire, where he leads in the polls, on his own terms. And, you know, candidates don't really get penalized at this stage for not showing up at debates. So, for him, it was probably a calculation worth taking.
CHETRY: Especially when all four of the top didn't show. So, I mean, if maybe one, it would have been more obvious.
All right. We're going to check in with you in the 8:00 hour after we hear from Senator Clinton.
John Dickerson, thanks.
DICKERSON: Thank you.
CHETRY: We're also going to be speaking, as we said, with Hillary Clinton. It's taking place, oh, actually only one hour from now. 7:15 -- earlier than I thought -- Eastern Time. John's going to be talking one-on-one with Hillary. So you'll want to stick around for that.
ROBERTS: Time is just flying by this morning.
An update now injured Buffalo Bills player Kevin Everett. It tops you "Quick Hits." Doctors say he is showing movement on both hands, as well as his arms, his legs and his toes. Everett suffered a broken neck and life-threatening spinal cord injury in the Bill's season opening game a week ago.
New warnings about wearing those rubber shoes called Crocs on escalators. The Washington metro system is telling riders to be careful after a four-year-old Virginia boy got his foot tangled up in the moving stairs. The maker of Crocs says their shoes are safe and that instances like this are rare.
Well, people sometimes do strange, make that incredibly stupid things when they're drinking. Like how about putting a live rattlesnake in their mouth. Up next, we'll show you a guy who somehow managed to survive a stunt that could have earned him entry into the Darwin Awards.
And some alleged accomplices could be joining O.J. Simpson in jail this morning. Plus, we'll give you a peak inside the prison where O.J. is being held.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Wedged in a turnstyle with a pink flamingo. It could only happen to Jack Hanna, right? Well, officials say that the animal icon got stuck in a ten-foot turnstyle with a flamingo in a crate. Hanna had squeezed out, but firefighters had to come to get the bird. It all happened after midnight Sunday at Ohio State University Airport. Since the terminal was closed, it looked like the only way out. Hanna said it wasn't the easiest exit when you're traveling with boxed up animals. He was returning from a zoo fund-raiser.
I'm sure he took it all in stride though. He's a heck of a nice guy.
ROBERTS: You know, when you're Jack Hanna, sometimes you have to deal with some weird problems.
It's been a while since the late-night comics had O.J. Simpson to kick around, but they sure do seem happy to have him back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": You know, O.J. Simpson in jail in Nevada charged with armed robbery. Of course on the bright side for O.J., he has a Vegas room, he has in Vegas now fully comped.
He was at The Palms, which is the same hotel where Britney Spears sang on the MTV Awards. Huh. That makes two failed comebacks the same week almost.
Who invites O.J. to their wedding? What bride wouldn't love that? Huh? Hey, want to help cut the cake? Sure, why not.
CONAN O'BRIEN, "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN": When the cops cuffed him and took him to jail, O.J. was thrilled and said, I still got it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, here's a story coming up in our next half hour that you just can't miss. The University of Florida student tasered at a campus Q&A with Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. We're not making this stuff up.
CHETRY: No. And someone was rolling the whole time. Let's look at the video. This is -- the school police said they had to step in after this guy, Andrew Meyer, kept asked questions over a student and the senator and then things got even more heated up when he refused to allow police to escort him out. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MEYER, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENT: Get the (BLEEP) off me, man. I didn't do anything. (BLEEP) tas me, bro. Don't tas me. I didn't do anything!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Wow, was he a drama major, because he certainly caused a lot of drama there. We're going to find out exactly what's behind this, what point was he trying to make? Some of the questions, did police go too far or were they just trying to get him out? We're going to actually speak to the girl who shot video of that incident.
ROBERTS: Those stories and more when AMERICAN MORNING returns. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: What a beautiful shot this morning.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Oh, look at that. Beautiful.
CHETRY: It's the Atlanta skyline. WSB in Atlanta.
ROBERTS: It almost looks like a Disney World version of Atlanta this morning, doesn't it.
CHETRY: Very pretty.
ROBERTS: Very nice. 61 degrees right now, going up today to a high of 80. It will be Hotlanta again today on this Tuesday, September 18th.
Welcome back, thanks for joining us on this "AMERICAN MORNING." I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry.
80 is nothing for them in Atlanta. They can deal with that.
ROBERTS: True. That's absolutely true, compared to what it is like there in the summertime.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly.
We start with some breaking news in the case of missing Madeleine McCann, the 4-year-old British girl. There is now a new push to prove her parents are innocent. They have a news spokesman who's going to be making their case within the last hour. Clarence Mitchell explained that he resigned from his government position so that he could keep working for the McCann's.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARENCE MITCHELL, MCCANN FAMILY SPOKESMAN: I feel so strongly that they are the innocent victims of a heinous crime that I am prepared to forego my government career to assist them. Therefore, I wish to stress, most definitely, that, from now on, I in no way speak on behalf of the British government. I will soon to be representing Kate and Gerry as a private individual, one who believes utterly that they are entirely innocent of any involvement in the disappearance, yet alone the death, of their daughter, Madeleine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Portuguese officials have named both of them suspects in their 4-year-old daughter's disappearance. Others have come out in their support, as well, including billionaire Richard Branson, who donated $200,000 to help them make their case for the fact that they're innocent and they're still searching for suspects -- John?
ROBERTS: Also new this morning U.S. diplomats in Iraq could face a security crisis. Iraq says it is canceling the contract of Blackwater USA a private security firm that protects American diplomats there. Blackwater was involved in a fire fight on Sunday in which eight Iraqis were killed. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Prime Minister al Maliki to offer her regrets and promises that the shooting will be investigated.
Pakistan's political crisis cranked up a notch this morning. A lawyer for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said Musharraf would give up his position as head of the army after re-elected president. But Musharraf's chief opponent, Benazir Bhutto, this morning is calling it unconstitutional and threatening that her party will resign from parliament as a result.
Some say that Senator Larry Craig needs all the help he can get right now. and he's getting some from an unusual porter. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a brief in court calling the conservative Senator's bathroom bust unconstitutional. Craig was arrested back in June when he allegedly tried to solicit sex in an airport bathroom in Minneapolis. The ACLU says sting operations, such as that one that nabbed Craig, often trap innocent people.
CHETRY: He's proved time and time again that he is a survivor, but hope is now fading that multi-millionaire Steve Fossett will be found alive. Search teams are scaling back the search for the thrill seeker. His plane disappeared somewhere over the Nevada desert more than two weeks ago. Search flights have now been suspended. The National Guard, though, is still keeping five choppers in the air.
Britney Spears could lose custody of her two young sons. Her former body guard says that he is ready to testify about her drug use, nudity and other, quote, "safety issues" involving the children. The bodyguard worked briefly for Spears this spring after she got out of rehab. ROBERTS: The University of Florida's police department is investigating whether its officers were justified in tasering a student yesterday at a forum with U.S. Senator John Kerry. The whole thing was caught on tape from several angles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MEYER, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENT: I didn't do anything. Don't tase me, bro. Don't tase me. I didn't do anything. Ow. Ow. Ow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: That's Andrew Meyer on the floor there under the control of the University of Florida police. They tasered him after he refused to cooperate. Put his hands behind him to be handcuffed.
Clarissa Jessup shot that video. She joins us now on the phone from Gainesville.
How did you be, Clarissa, in that position rolling video at that exact time?
CLARISSA JESSOP: Actually, I was standing in line waiting for my turn to speak. And when I was standing there, when it was my turn, they actually pulled me away and said, you know, "We're not taking any more questions and we're not going to answer any more questions." And I was seeing the representative and I said that was very disappointing. He said, "I understand, but directed me out of the building. This is no longer happening. If you have any questions..."
ROBERTS: Hey, Clarissa, I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you. We seem to have a problem with the phone line here. Could you give us a few minutes to clear it up and we'll get right back to you.
JESSOP: (Inaudible).
ROBERTS: OK, don't go away. We'll get right back to you.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Meantime, the sexual harassment suit against New York Knicks head coach Isiah Thomas is centering around whether Thomas called the plaintiff -- she's a former Madison Square Garden executive by the name of Anuka Brown Sanders -- the "B" word.
Part of Thomas' deposition when he explained who could use and could not use that word is raising some eyebrows. It was played in court yesterday. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISIAH THOMAS, HEAD COACH, NEW YORK KNICKS: A white male calling a black female a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is highly offensive to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you find it also offensive for a black male to call a black woman a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
THOMAS: Not as much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Joining me now with more on this case is "AMERICAN MORNING" legal contributor Sonni Hoston (ph).
I want to welcome you, by the way. Thanks for being with us.
HOSTON, CNN "AMERICAN MORNING" LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you for having me.
CHETRY: So he seemed to draw this distinction that it's OK if a black man says it but it's not OK if a white man says it? Is that what you want to go on the record of saying in a sexual harassment case?
HOSTON (ph): You don't. It's clearly not a legal distinction but he's saying it is a distinction that I make. and the jury heard all of that. This is not looking good for Isiah Thomas.
CHETRY: Calls into question some of his judgment calls, which is what this plaintiff is saying, that he wrapped his arms around her inappropriately. That he cursed at her. And now, apparently, there are some witnesses who are corroborating a little bit of this. Is this not looking good for Isiah?
HOSTON (ph): It really isn't. I think the witness who says he heard and saw the same things the witness is accusing him of -- he heard Isiah Thomas say, "What? You're not showing me any love? You're easy on the eyes. You're distracting me." That's compelling evidence. And it's from someone who was just a season ticket holder. Someone just sitting in the audience, an employment lawyer, who notices, you know what, this is going to be a problem for the Knicks.
CHETRY: That's interesting. We should also note that Isiah Thomas did clarify those comments. He said that it's not OK for anyone to use the "B" word. It said this later. Really, it did raise a lot of buzz when that deposition became public.
HOSTON (ph): Absolutely.
CHETRY: Let's switch gears, speaking of another case that is getting a former professional athlete in trouble, that's the O.J. Simpson situation right now. And the interesting thing about this tape, it was taped by a person, by the name of Thomas Riggio (ph). He apparently gave it to tmz.com before he gave it to police. Is that going to cause problems when this goes to trial?
HOSTON (ph): There are authentication issues, but I don't think so. We heard the tape. It is clearly O.J.'s voice. It is the voice of the defendant. It's an exception to hearsay. If this goes to trial -- I will wage a bet, I think it will go to trial -- we will hear that tape and the jury will hear that tape. And he sounds angry. He sounds agitated. And he sounds scary. Imagine being on the other side of that, when most people know, if not everyone, that O.J. was found criminally libel for killing two people.
CHETRY: Let's take a look right now. There are some pictures now of his jail cell. He was denied bail. The judge ruling believed he was a flight risk. There's a look at the 7 by 5 cell. He is going to be in there until he is formally charged. and then what?
HOSTON (ph): The arraignment really is, as you said, the formal charge. It is the beginning of the criminal case for him. What an arraignment really is, it is to decide whether or not the defendant gets to go home, whether or not he gets bail.
I think in this case any judge will think O.J. is a flight risk. He has no ties to the community in Las Vegas. And just a promise to return to court is probably not going to do enough. Let's face it, we all saw the white Bronco chase. And he clearly is someone that will flee. I think it's quite possible that he will get a very, very high bail or no bail at all.
CHETRY: Quickly, before we let you go, Britney Spears, apparently there are reports she's going through a custody battle with her ex husband. And her former bodyguard will be testifying, or is prepared to testify, according to Kevin Federline's lawyers, about her drug use and nudity. Does she automatically lose her children if there is a court-appointed drug test?
HOSTON (ph): No, no. Not at all. If you look at the standard, the standard is the best interest of the children. By all accounts, even though she had a lot of mommy problems, she has had a lot of parenting problems, a judge is going to be very reluctant to tear a child away from his or her mother -- his mother.
CHETRY: In this case, the two little boys.
Sonni Hoston (ph), "AMERICAN MORNING" legal contributor, thanks.
HOSTON (ph): Thank you.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: 39 minutes after the hour. We've got Clarissa Jessop back on the phone with us from Gainesville.
Sorry, it sounded like you were on Mars than you were in Gainesville. Let's go back, the video you shot, how did you happen to be in that place at that time?
JESSOP: I was standing in line. They were doing a question and answer session after Kerry was speaking. and we were standing in line for what seemed like forever. And I was actually supposed to be the next person to speak. And a speaker's representative came up to me and said, "We're no longer taking questions. We will no longer be answering questions." And I turned to her and I said, "Well, this is very disappointing. I came here. I've sat and have been very patient and very polite and now you're not going to let me have my turn."
And they actually involved police from the get-go and started trying to escort me, Andrew and a few other students, who were waiting in line to speak, out of the auditorium.
ROBERTS: We notice that, when we see the video here that you shot and we saw you standing beside him, he kept going on and on and on. He seemed to be making statements as well as asking questions. Was he pushing the limit there?
JESSOP: I don't think so. There were other people that asked questions and they prefaced their questions, too. He was prefacing his question a little more than some of the other people. but I think that he was just very excited because, at that moment, the only thing that was even getting him his chance to speak was the fact that he had stolen the microphone and interrupted the program in order to even get Kerry to understand that there were still people standing in line, that Kerry had addressed us and said he wanted to hear all of our questions and all of our answers.
ROBERTS: Right. What about when Andrew Meyer was taken away? Was he being unusually resistant to the efforts of the police officers to remove him from the room?
JESSOP: He was being resistant. I don't know if he was unusual for Andrew. I did not even know Andrew's name at the time. I heard his name on the news report yesterday evening. I don't know if that's unusual for him. But it seemed a little bit off. I was just thinking if I was in his position, I would be freaking out, too, because not once during the entire ordeal did the police say very clearly you are under arrest or ever read him his Miranda rights or every actually --- what I would consider, putting him under arrest. And when they tasered him, from where I was -- and it's not very clear in the video -- he was already on his stomach and handcuffed.
ROBERTS: I watched the videotape. I listened to the audio. But it sounds like they were trying to get him to lay on his stomach so they could handcuff him, and he appeared to be resistant. Are you saying that they did have the handcuffs on him at the time they hit him with the taser?
JESSOP: That's what it appeared to me. They already had had him on his stomach at one point, put his hands behind his back as they were handcuffing. And he was trying to lift his head up and say, why am I being arrested? What are you doing to me? And one of the officer turned and said, "Go ahead and tase him." And he said, "Well, why are you going to tase me?" And that's when the don't tase me, bro, came out. And they had already -- I believe had already tased him in order to get him to the floor to begin with. The video camera was cutting in and out, so I was having trouble operating it. And it...
ROBERTS: Well, I tell you, it's an extraordinary event to take place at a university and not only do we have tape from your camera, but there's tape from a number of different angles, as well. So, certainly, the university is going to have a lot of material as it investigates whether or not the Gainesville police there, the University of Florida police in Gainesville were heavy handed in their arrest of this fellow.
Clarissa, thanks very much for being with us. Good to talk to you.
JESSOP: Thank you very much.
ROBERTS: All right, bye bye.
And Wall Street is waiting for news on whether the Fed will raise the key federal funds rate or will it cut it. Will it be a quarter of a point cut? Will it be a half a point? How are the markets going to react? A financial expert will join us ahead, on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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CHETRY: 46 minutes past the hour now. Rob Marciano keeping an eye on the weather for us.
Hey, Rob. What are they looking at, the possibility of more storms across the Midwest today?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Midwest, Florida, we've got a couple spots that we're watching.
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MARCIANO: Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: All right, Rob, thanks.
John?
ROBERTS: Coming up to 12 minutes before the top of the hour. The Federal Reserve meets today in Washington. All eyes are on interest rates today. It's expected that the Feds will cut a key short-term interest rate for the first time in four years. That's going to be good news for some borrowers. Will it be good for the economy in general? According to our next guest, it might not matter.
Robert Kiyosaki is a finance expert, author of the best selling book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." He joins us now.
Good to see you, Robert. First of all, what do you think the Fed is going to do, quarter-point cut, half-point cut? Will it really matter in the grand scheme of things?
ROBERT KIYOSAKI, AUTHOR "RICH DAD, POOR DAD": It doesn't really make much difference. I think they have to cut. I think it's a good idea, but the -- it will not make that much difference.
ROBERTS: Why won't it make that much difference? Certainly the markets will like it. Let's put it this way, it's probably already factored into the market. So if they don't cut, the markets will go down. But why doesn't it matter much?
KIYOSAKI: What they're trying to solve is a problem so deep that a quarter point, half point, it won't make much difference. And I think that's part of the problem. Plus, mortgages are generally based upon the long-term bonds and it is not going to make it. This is a worldwide problem that is outside the control of the Fed. And I think I think we're all waiting for Santa Claus.
ROBERTS: Although the Fed did make a bit of an impact back in august when it cut the discount rate and put some liquidity into the market, certainly stopped the bleeding. Does that address the bigger question in the mortgage crisis?
KIYOSAKI: No.
ROBERTS: People are saying that the way this is affecting house prices will last for at least another 18 months. Do you agree and what will bring this out of it?
KIYOSAKI: It's just a correction. There's so much over speculation, all the flippers and stuff in the marketplace. Plus, it was really the Japanese. And I'm Japanese. They flooded the market with cheap money. So, cheap money was looking for all of this high so-called credit. So the cheap money was looking for all of this high so-called credit, these mortgages. And so it's just this mess. It has to work its way out.
Now, the good news is it's really good for -- if you're a buyer right now, God bless, you're in a good spot -- or a seller.
ROBERTS: At least a first-time buyer or somebody who is not trying to exchange one property for another.
KIYOSAKI: That's correct. If you're a first-time buyer or a serious investor, this is really a good time. If you're a seller, horrible time.
ROBERTS: Alan Greenspan said he thinks there is a one in three chance of a recession. Do you agree with that? Disagree? What would prevent us from going into a recession?
KIYOSAKI: I don't think we can. It's spreading so fast. It's not just the last few months, it's been...
ROBERTS: You're predicting recession?
KIYOSAKI: Yes. I've been watching this go down for the last couple years. I come from Phoenix right now and the housing prices went up by 50 percent last year. It has to come down again. So it's just going to correct. People are going to lose their jobs. People lose their jobs and they stop spending. The wealth effect...
ROBERTS: Let me ask you this question, deep recession, shallow recession, quick, long?
KIYOSAKI: That depends on the person. What they're saying is, if your neighbor loses his job, that's a recession. If you lose your job, it's a depression. So I think that's really what it is. It's going to be a while.
ROBERTS: We'll see. Hopefully you're wrong on this one. Your forecasting is pretty good, but I'm hoping that you're wrong on this one. Robert Kiyosaki, thanks for being with us this morning.
KIYOSAKI: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: Sometimes people do strange and incredibly stupid things when you're drinking, like how about putting a rattlesnake in his mouth. Up next, we're going to show you what happened to this guy after he did it, ahead, on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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CHETRY: All right. Well, now, a little something from the never to do while drinking file. A Portland, Oregon, man making a miraculous recovery after being bitten by his rattlesnake, his pet snake, of course. Where should we start? He dragged it out while he and his friends were drinking. And then he said, "Hey, I'm going it put this snake in my mouth to show you how safe he really is." And they said, no, don't do that. Anyway, long story, short, he was bitten inside of his mouth. It put him in a coma for three days. He came out of it. And now he is doing better. But doctors are saying it's miraculous that he survived that bite.
ROBERTS: You know, that's almost one for the Darwin Awards, isn't it? It's coming up to five minutes to the top of the hour. Stephanie Elam here "Minding Your Business" for Ali Velshi.
So Robert Kiyosaki said it doesn't matter what the Feds is going to do today in the grand scheme of things. Certainly, the markets will be watching.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It matters to a lot of people who are investing in it, John. That's what it comes down to when you look at something like the Fed and the decision today that we will hear at 2:15 eastern, wrapping up the two-day meeting. And most people widely expect them it cut interest rates. The question being how much will they cut it and what their forward-looking statements are.
Let's look at how we got here. Let's start off by saying the housing sector, remember, that started to slow and we saw people with a glut of houses on the marketplace. That led to a credit crunch. There were people with subprime mortgages and also people out there buying and flipping and they got stuck with their homes, so they defaulted. That hurt the companies. And then they needed to borrow more money from the overall central bank.
We saw in August, they went ahead and cut the discount rate by 50 basis points in August so the banks could borrow more cheaply. That helped out but many people were still noting that spending was starting to slow down on the consumer side. We saw that we were down actually by a half a percent that we saw consumer up in August. That also played a part in how we got here, as well. If you look at the jobs report that came out in August, many expecting more than 100,000 jobs to be added to the market. We actually lost 400,000 jobs. That sparked a lot of fears. And then we started hearing the "R" word, recession, and at that point, that's when started hearing more people calling for something to be done about the credit crunch, the housing. All of that playing a part.
Keep in mind, yesterday, oil hit $80.57. That is a fresh high. It Still not higher -- adjusted for inflation -- where we saw it in the early '80s, but still commodity prices are high. And that is a reason that inflation could be a concern. So not a lot of room here for the Fed to go ahead and cut interest rates. John and Kiran?
ROBERTS: All right, we'll see what they do this afternoon. Certainly a lot of people who are counting on an incremental cut.
ELAM: Yeah, a quarter of a basis point, a lot of people are expecting. Some are hoping for half, but many say that's a far shot.
ROBERTS: And they're also looking for the bias to see what they're thinking about for the future.
ELAM: The main thing is the comments, as always. When it comes down to it, what are they going to say about where we go from here?
ROBERTS: Stephanie, thanks very much.
ELAM: Sure.
CHETRY: And we have some brand new developments in the case of missing Madeleine McCann. The latest person to defend her parents. That's ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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